Historic Jail Inmate, Lecompton, Kansas Photo Print

"Historic Jail Inmate, Lecompton, Kansas" by Catherine Sherman. This character gave me a fright when I opened the door to this historic jail. For a moment, I thought he was real. He or she is certainly giving me the eye for interrupting his or her nap. Maybe this prisoner was thinking about making a break for it. This "prisoner" rests on a cot in the small one-room jail, constructed from native Kansas limestone in 1892, in Lecompton, Kansas. This old city jail is furnished with historic artefacts, including chamber pot, wood burning stove, water pitcher, spittoon and chair. Hopefully, the cot was fitted with a mattress when the jail was in actual use. The jail, which was used for prisoners until the 1920s, still has the original, heavy, wooden, door, hand-forged hardware and hand-forged iron window bars. Lecompton was the territorial capital of Kansas from 1855–61. Topeka is now the state capital of Kansas.